2007 in review

Even though I can NOT wait for this year to be over (for countless reasons many of which listed below) I'd like to bid adieu to 2007 paying my respects and remember it for the good times it brought.. which --you guessed it-- were mostly Gummy related..

In 2007 Rodri rolled over, swam and loved swimming, ate his first solids, got chunky and slimmed down, sat on his own, chew on his feet, cut his first tooth, crawled, cruised, turned ONE!, grew hair!!, walked, and more recently danced!

Here's my pictorial review of the one precious thing that has brought so much happiness to my life in 2007. I knew that a child is a source of amazing joy, but until you have your own, you can't truly grasp it and I'm grateful that God has granted me the opportunity to experience it.

"If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you've made me smile the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand."

Lost in 2007, a tail, a breast, lots of hair, a job

..and a few other things more..

Nelly got an awful allergy which led to a nasty infection leaving my beautiful Golden Retriever without her fluffy gorgeous tail (but she soon learned to do a full body wag and she's never seemed to miss that tail!).

Edgar lost his "dream" job and with it many dreams and hopes went down the drain and were replaced by tons of stress and concerns.

My mom lost her left breast to cancer and all her hair to chemotherapy (but the hair is growing back and her health is thriving thank God!)


Many other things were lost this year... many may never come back again, some we could be able to recover with a bit of work. We lost friends and frienships, health, direction, opportunity, youth, motivation, time, energy, patience, tears, efforts... etc..

Christmas morning madness!

I think we survived Christmas morning, with one active toddler, 2 overly excited little girls and one crazy dog!! After all the unwrapping and swimming in loads of wrapping paper, tags and bows, we managed to "clear the way" for all thew new toys' mess around the living room...
Christmas is so tiring for us oldies.. but surely the kiddos have a great time.. And Rodri LOVED what Santa brought him... a ball pit all for him.. --and we all know how much this kid likes to play with balls!!!--



Hoping everyone had a beautiful Christmas!

Christmas in the Park

On Saturday we went with Hellen and Christian to San Jose's Christmas in the Park. Rodri was one sleepy guy, but he was a little angel all bundled up, tucked in and looking at all the Christmas displays.. We had churros and hot cocoa and played around the big Gingerbread house at the Marriot.

Christmas' Eve Handsomeness!

Christmas Cuteness

I understand I'm extremely biased, hey, this kid is mine ALL mine and I adore him.. but.. com'on!! isn't this Santa baby the cutest thing ever??

Here's Rodri with his big sisters.. aren't these three adorable?? It took only like one hour to get a few good shots, Rodri was not into getting his picture taken and screamed most of the time, Angeline was being a little clown and making silly faces, luckily Gaby -the oldest and more "mature"- behaved quite nicely for the pics and trying to help keep her younger siblings in check. But regarless of all the effort it took --and gosh I did work up a sweat--, they're just incredibly cute together.. and how much they love each other.. it's so sweet to see them together and interacting !! Rodri surely loves his big sissys!

Christmas' partying!!

Last weekend we were busy attending some Christmas' gatherings..

On Saturday we visited our friends Mike and Bibi and their son Tomas.. we made Colombian arepas, bunuelos, chocolate, dominican empanadas, yummy ham, tamales, etc.. The kids had a great time and even got some presents


On Sunday we got together with the Colombian Parents' group and we celebrated the Holidays once again.. We had the most gracious and fun hosts, Sara and Marco! Our fabulous organizer, Maripily, brought presents for all the kids and so did Alvaro who also made the yummiest empanadas and brought along great traditional Christmas carols ("villancicos").. we had so much food and the kids played the whole afternoon at a jumper we rented ..


I love the holidays.. so much fun with dear friends.. and now Christmas with kids it's even much more fun!!

Lost and Found

I'm beyond excited... !
Through the magic of Facebook I ran into a long lost friend.. someone who I admired a lot from church and who was always truly sweet and nice to me... someone I hadn't seen in years...
So I ran into Meg again, we did run into each other at a Couples' retreat prior our weddings and we said we'll keep in touch.. time passed, I got busy, wedding planning, married life, I never made the call nor sent an email, etc.. and fast forward almost 3 yrs.. we ran into each other again, now we're both moms, our lives have taken a 180 degree turn.. and we find each other again... I think it's amazing and a bit bittersweet to learn of all the things that our friends experienced while we were out of touch, realize that we missed so much, and at the same time rejoice for all the great things that they experienced.

I love how modern technology and tools like blogs, Facebook and even Google, allow us to become updated with other people in very short time. Some will say that it's better the personal interaction, and I agree, but on these hectic days where our lives are stuck in traffic, subjected to tight schedules and tons of commitments, there is not much time for interacting face to face with all the people we know... and that's where technology comes to the rescue.. and why not take advantage of it.!

On another note, it's such a delight to receive Christmas cards from friends and family and then there's that card, of someone you haven't heard of in a long time, like Marge in my case, and it's so good to receive it.. so read it, to savour and remember the friendship that hasn't been forgotten..

I'm very thankful to have gotten news from long lost friends precisely in this wonderful season of Sharing and Joy.

I was feeling grumpy today until this

I found this video and I got all fuzzy inside.. Just in time for Christmas.. even the most feared of creatures, the most fierce and dangerous, even them can be thankful for the love given and can show love back....

"The woman in the video found this lion injured in the forest, ready to die. She took the lion with her and nursed him back to health. When the lion was better she made arrangements with a zoo to take the lion and give it a new and happy home.
This video was taken when the woman - after some time - went to visit the lion to see how he was doing. Watch the lion's reaction when he sees her. Truly amazing!"

Which kind of reindeer are you?

I am:

You Are Rudolph

Sweet and shy, you tend to be happiest when you're making someone else happy. Why You're Naughty: You sometimes stick that nose where it doesn't belong Why You're Nice: Christmas would be a sad affair without you!

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

It's "lets embarass our poor Nelly" time!

The look on her face says it all... (mean mean mommy.. why do you do this to me???)
But this one is adorable.. the lovingly way Nelly and Gummy are looking at each other.. I bet they're telling each other "oh...the things we'll have to endure with these parents of ours"

Dressing up the home for Christmas

Last night, with Rodri and myself sick in the house, we pulled it through and prepared the house for the holidays! Christmas came to the house! Yipeee..

We ended up with a HUMONGOUS tree (about 8ft tall) and Edgar had to chop the top off --leaving the tree looking a bit crooked and weird-- but oh well.. We have a tree!!